Head Colds and Snow Babies and Good-Bye January...

This week was fairly uneventful. The cold I had last week ended up hanging around. I went to school on Monday for my before school tutoring, went to my Monday school and tested a new student and was pretty much out of energy. I ended up going home around 10:00 and taking it easy the rest of the day, thinking that's all I would need, a little rest. Sadly that didn't happen because I was up most of Monday night coughing! Tuesday morning I just wasn't able to get going so I stayed home again and rested. By Wednesday I was able to go in as I had managed to sleep the night before but the cough is still with me. Cough drops are my friend. I was glad when Friday rolled around.

The weekend has been pretty uneventful too. Saturday was spent around the house, doing chores, reading, relaxing, cooking dog food. Finally around 3:00 I took the pups up to the high school field for a little run. The snow was deep and it was really cold! They ran around for a while until they had to stop and chew the ice out from between their toes.

Today we went back to the high school field again and it was a little nicer with the sun out but still really cold! I think the high today was 22 or 23 and with the wind chill a bit colder than that. But that didn't stop a couple Snow Babies from having some fun!
Look how deep that snow is!

















I'm glad January is on it's way out. That means February is right around the corner and only another 19 days until I get to see this little cutie!

I'm heading to Virginia for my mid-winter break! Can't wait.

That means Spring is closer too, only another 49 days (plus another month or so until it really arrives here in Michigan.) However, I did hear on the news tonight that we are expecting a big winter storm this week! It's supposed to start Tuesday night and go all day Wednesday, 10-16 inches worth! Could be another Snow Day coming our way!

Have a good week!

I'm Done

I'm done with Winter. It's gone on too long now.

I need to move to a place where by the end of January there's no more snow or freezing cold temps! This past week has been brutal here.

Below, well below, freezing temps and gray every day. Today the sun is finally out but it's like 7 degrees.

The temps are supposed to stay in the teens and twentys all the next week. Too cold to take the pups to the park so no pictures of that. They look at me so expectantly every time I grab my shoes and keys but no luck for them.



I am not standing out in the freezing cold even for them. And then there's the wind chill. Brrrrrrrrr!

This past week was fairly non-eventful. Work was good, busy, lots of things to do. Nothing too exciting going on except I did get this.

I ordered it from Target on Saturday and it was here by Tuesday. It's for my office so I can watch TV while I work on the blog or write bills or read blogs or whatever. It just gets the basic channels but it's great. I love it.


On Thursday, at work, I was bragging to a co-worker who was coming down with a cold how I had been so healthy this year. Stupid, stupid me. That night, when I got home, my throat started feeling itchy and I could feel a cold coming on! It's not too bad, just some sneezing and coughing and head congestion but I have finally found an over-the-counter medication that at least can handle the symptoms! I'll manage.

Thursday night H and I were enjoying a leisurely dinner at the local Wendy's when the woman sitting next to us said, "I hope you aren't planning to go to Kroger after dinner." When we said no, we weren't, why, she informed us that the parking lot was all blocked off and that the police were dealing with a bomb scare!! A bomb scare here in out little town!!! Unbelievable!!! Sure enough, when we left Wendy's the bomb squad was parked in front of the store and the parking lots had all entrances blocked off. I heard nothing on the news but the next day at work I did a quick search and found out that some guy had gone in to the pharmacy, put a box on the counter saying it was a bomb and demanded some Vicodin. Crazy!! Apparently a clerk threw a bottle at him, he left and they evacuated the store for the next 3 hours! This was at 7:00 at night! They got pictures of him on the surveillance cameras so hopefully he will be caught soon.

Friday night was bowling. We were all there and ready to kick some butt. Which we did. We won all 3 games and took totals. Four points for us!! I bowled a 144, 145 and 143. Apparently H took quite a spill on the lane. He had been up at the juke box and I went up to relieve him when it was his turn to bowl. He must have stepped into some water because when he went to bowl he stuck and went flying. People told me he went down pretty hard. He said he feels just fine, didn't hurt anything, just maybe a little pride. No one likes to go flying on their face. We were all very careful the rest of the night as no one wanted to repeat that performance.

Amber had her first night away from Quinn this weekend. She took advantage of a friend's business trip to Miami and joined her down there for a little R&R. Apparently there wasn't much sun but at least it was a little warmer and gave her a chance to rest and recharge.

I haven't heard from Andy but I'm sure he and Quinn are enjoying lots of father/daughter bonding time!!

Tyler is on vaca this week and next. I haven't heard from him either so I guess he's either sleeping around the clock or having a great time exploring Masan. Can't wait to hear all about it son! Maybe you can update your blog with some fascinating pictures about your 2 weeks off!! Please??

Have a great week!

Birthday Girl!

Our sweet little Quinn turned 1 yesterday but I didn't have access to the pictures until it was all over. Not being there tends to cause that kind of problem.

This picture I stole off Auntie Liz's Facebook page. She was at the party on Saturday and designated as one of the photographers. Quinn has her cake here, everyone is singing Happy Birthday and she's not quite sure what's expected of her.

Then Amber took this one on Quinn's actual birthday, 1-11-11, in her birthday onesie.


She's definitely leaving her baby year behind. She's walking for real, long distances, stopping, turning, bending to pick things up and walking on. Amber told me that she's walking into her bedroom, saying good-bye, closing the door and staying in there quietly playing with her toys. She's saying all kinds of things, trying to sing, dancing, all the adorable things little girls do. She couldn't be more precious to us.

Hard to believe one little being could bring so many people so much joy but that's exactly what she's done and we've all loved every minute of it!


Happy Birthday Baby!!

Back to Work...

This past week went by fast! Before I knew it we were on to to Friday and the week was over. Friday night was bowling and considering we hadn't bowled in month I would say we did pretty good. We took 4 points which we sorely need since we are in 14th place!! That's 14th out of 16! We didn't realize last night was position night until we got to the bowling alley but I don't suppose it would have mattered either way. It helped that one of the guys from the other team who can really bowl if he gets hot wasn't there last night. Then his wife accidentally brought his ball so she didn't have her own ball or shoes which would have made for a terrible night if that happened to me. But, as luck would have it, she found a house ball that she bowled better with than she does her own ball. At the end of the night she liked it so much she decided to take it home with her!

Saturday we focused on packing away the Christmas trees and all the trimmings. We got most of it done Saturday and I finished up the rest today. Why does it seem to take so much longer to take it all down than to put it up?

Here's the new bird feeder H bought me for Christmas. It's supposedly made with Cardinals in mind but this is one of the first Cardinals I've seen on the feeder all week. They are finally warming up to it. It's squirrel proof and I have to say, I haven't seen one squirrel on it. At least there is one thing they can't get on because lord knows they get in to everything else!


On Saturday I also had to make dog food since I was completely out. I made breakfast food first then dinner. Now we are all set for another month. My pups didn't go far from the kitchen all afternoon.

After I finished cooking I had just enough time before dark to take them up to the high school for a little frisbee. It was cold out but at least the sun was out. Charlie took off at a run almost as soon as he got out of the car. I don't always mind that but this time he took off with the frisbee and I don't like that! Once he takes off with it he puts it down and then I have to go find it. Since everything was snow covered I wasn't looking forward to going to look for the frisbee. Those dumb things are expensive too, over $20 and I don't want to lose one! Luckily Zoe was on his trail and she found the frisbee and brought it back to me while he was off checking his pee-mail! We couldn't stay out long because the snow was balling up in their feet and they had to keep stopping to pull the snow out from between their toes!

Also on Saturday our little sweetie had her birthday party in Virginia! By all reports it was a success and Quinn enjoyed being the center of all that attention! I was hoping for some pics but so far none have come my way. We did Skype with Quinn today and she was pretty blase about the whole event until I pulled Zoe up onto my lap. Then she came to life and even laughed!! She love her some puppies!!

Here's Zoe waiting for her dinner.


Today was another cold but at least sunny day. Even though it was only in the 20's today (and even colder with the wind chill) it feels so much warmer somehow with the sun out. We are lucky to have lots of windows in this house and many on the south side so we can have some sun coming in all day.

I ran to the pet store for some organic kibble and couldn't resist a couple new toys for the pups. I really didn't buy them anything for Christmas and I think I missed their birthdays too last year. Here's Charlie with his newest possession.

It's a leopard with the stuffing removed, except for the head. We'll see how long this lasts. He seems way more interested in toys than Zoe. She would rather have her Nylabone, if she can keep it away from Charlie. They were having adoptions at Petco and I noticed there were only two puppies and all the rest much older dogs. I hope they all find good homes where someone will love and spoil them. In this economy it's not easy to feed and take care of a pet. The yearly vet bills alone are very expensive, even if you just get the minimum. We were lucky that neither dog needed any shots this year but with just a check-up, heartworm check and yearly medication and bordatello it was expensive enough.

We managed another trip to the park but I couldn't take the cold for long. Even with gloves on, after about 10 minutes, my fingers were numb. My car thermometer said 26 but the wind was really blowing so I know it felt much colder than that! They enjoyed getting out though.

Wow, where did the weekend go. It's time to get ready for work tomorrow. I'm still doing laundry. Oh well, guess it will get done when it gets done. I have Bunco at my house this Thursday night so I have to get busy planning for that too. I would say right now it's in the "thinking" stage. I'm thinking about what I want to make for everyone to eat and thinking about how I don't want to get too stressed out about it all. I decided to take Thursday off work since I have personal days to use and I haven't taken one day off this school year so far. It just makes things less stressful for me. Hopefully. The snacks aren't a problem but I'm not a big desert person so I never quite know what to make for that. Lately the girls have been making a dinner instead of appetizers and just one desert. In the old days they would make TWO deserts! Glad those days are gone.

Have a good week!

Happy 2011!!

I'm taking it as a good omen for the year that the sun was shining today. It has been so gray lately that when the sun comes out I find my self announcing to anyone within earshot, "look, it's the sun!!!" in a very excited voice!! Not only has it been gray but it warmed up a bit, rained like heck and melted all our snow. But not to worry, a new storm is headed our way and I'm sure we'll be getting some more. After all, it's only January for goodness sake! This was the first sunset of 2011.


It has been a busy time since Christmas though we didn't really do that much, if that makes sense. Having a baby around can make you feel busy all the time. We so enjoyed spending 9 days with our little sweetheart. She is learning so much right now, beginning to really walk, talk and just does the cutest things. H, Scott and I would tag team watch her since there were so many potential hazards in our non-babyproofed home. By the time she left here she was walking good, long distances without falling. She really had us all on a schedule and our world revolved around her needs.

Andy's parents and sister came over from the west side a few days after Andy went home. We enjoyed a nice afternoon with them and they got to spend a little Christmas time with Quinn. She never gets tired of opening presents!


We tried to get some nice pictures but "someone" wasn't very cooperative.


Actually this one was a better picture but unfortunately it's a bit blurry. :-(


This was a cute one of Quinn with her Mama and Aunt Lizzie but she was pretty much done having her picture taken.


This picture turned out cute though it wasn't what we were going for. H wanted a picture of her with the dogs but the trouble with a baby that's learning to walk is that no matter where you put her she doesn't stay there long.

Uncle Scott would put her somewhere and try to get out of the picture but as soon as he would let go of her she would take off again! Too bad she doesn't know the "stay" command like my pups do!!

Amber and Quinn went home yesterday and it's been very quiet around here today.

Some of us needed a nap! It's hard work following a baby around for 9 days.

These two weeks have gone by very quickly and I'm back to school on Monday. I was hoping to un-decorate the house before then but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. Today was spent watching the Rose Parade in the morning (well, really until 1:00) and then getting things prepared for our New Year's Day dinner. Sometimes I think all these traditions we partake in are just lots of work. Scott commented at dinner that he doesn't like 3 of the 4 things we had. I'm not all that fond of them either but they become a tradition so that's what you have. Maybe next year we'll switch things up a little. Today we had a nice Honeybaked ham that we bought with a certificate from H's work, scalloped potatoes that were a bit too buttery and not really creamy for some reason eventhough I used 1-1/2 cups of milk in them, our must-have black eyed peas and corn bread muffins. Scott said he would rather have had a steak which today wouldn't have been a problem but if it were last week there was 8 inches of snow on the deck and no getting near the grill so that could have been a bit of a problem.

I also read a few blogs today and it seems everyone looks back on their year and tries to measure it up and see how they fared. I would say The Mitchells fared pretty well when things were said and done. Of course the year started out with a wonderful gift, our precious little Quinn. We managed to see her often so we wouldn't miss too much of her growing up. Soon after that we found out that things weren't going so well for Tyler, he couldn't find a job in Hawaii, so he would be moving to South Korea. While we were glad he was able to find a job, moving to S. Korea wasn't exactly something we ever even thought of. It's turned out to be a good experience for him even though we miss him terribly and not seeing him for almost 1-1/2 years isn't a good thing. The prospect of me losing my job was quite depressing and for months I felt terrible about it. Everyone else's lives just moved forward and I felt mine was stuck in the mud with no prospect for a new job. In the end I was offered a new job, just before the old one ended, and after a few hiccups this has turned into the best job I've ever had. I really enjoy working with these kids and all the other responsibilities that at first were a bit daunting have become manageable. I do miss some of the other people I used to work with but at least I get to see them, I just don't have the daily interactions with them that I used to have. All in all it's been a pretty good year.

I'm counting my blessings.


(I actually wrote this yesterday, New Year's Day, but blogger wasn't cooperating with picture loading so it had to wait until today.)

Happy New Year!!